...and then there were three.: Hello World

I know...I know! It has been forever since I have blogged. Joe is so much better at keeping up with this than I am. Life has been pretty crazy recently. Let's back up to September 3rd. I had my second exam of the year scheduled that morning. Like usual for test days, I got up around 4:30 to go over things again. I like to be able to quickly review notes or notecards, get breakfast, get to school, and study some while listening to Corey Smith. It is my exam morning routine. That morning I got up and made it to school with my breakfast. At 7:30 I started throwing up, not a huge deal because I occasionally still have nausea and/or vomiting from pregnancy hormones. It finally stopped, and I got ready to take the test. The exam started at 8:00 am. The first set of questions involve looking at pathology screen shots on a powerpoint. I made it through the first seven questions and prepared to move to the next questions. I very quickly went from feeling slightly nauseous to feeling awful. Luckily, we are able to take our exams to the proctor and go to the restroom. By the time I made it to the front of the room (I usually sit about 6 rows back) and out the door I was having severe lower abdominal cramping and crazy back pain. When I got to the restroom, all I could was open the door and stand there leaning against the wall. Our module director just happened to be in there washing her hands. She immediately became concerned, and told me to take it easy and let her know if I needed help. I still thought I just needed to throw up again.

After a couple of minutes, I realize something is seriously wrong. My director was waiting for me in the hall, and she told me I needed to get the hospital. I began trying to get a hold of Joe. He was at home asleep still, and I knew we would have issued because I had driven the Corolla that morning using my keys that had the only Azera key. When I couldn't get him to answer, I called our wonderful neighbor Julie. She got Joe up and brought him to the hospital. Unfortunately, I was in so much and pain that wasn't letting up at all that my director decided it was best to call an ambulance. I got to ride in the back of an ambulance for literally two blocks. My classroom is across the street from the hospital, but the L&D and ER entrance is on the other side of the building.

By the time I made it to L&D, the pain had begun to act more like contractions. I was apparently having contractions so close together that I couldn't feel the break between them. The staff immediately started IV fluids hoping that they would make the contractions stop. It did help some of them, but I was still having very regular contractions. I also progressed from a 2 to a 3 dilation. We were told to call our family that baby was coming. Joe and I began to mentally prepare to meet Grayson and accept the fact he was probably going to have to spend some in the NICU as I was only 34 weeks and my ultrasound the day before had only put him at 4 pounds 7 ounces. Then I stopped dilating. My parents made the 5 hour trip to get there and learn that even though they were going to keep me over night to make sure I didn't progress more; it didn't look like he was coming that night.

The next morning I was still at a three, and we were discharged. I have continued to have very regular contractions about every 2 1/2 minutes. They are of varying severity. Regular enough that the next Friday when I went in for my biophysical profile, the nurses were concerned and the attending had me sent back to L&D to be checked and evaluated. Apparently, false contractions shouldn't be this regular and this close together. Most of the time, the pain is only a 3-4, and I am learning to just kind of ignore them. I do have a couple of periods a day where I will have much more severe feeling contractions for about 30-45 minutes. I have been told that these must last for more than an hour or my water has to break to signal true labor. It has made life difficult. I am still trying to keep up with school. I have seriously questioned my ability to stay in school while doing this. Unfortunately if I take off anytime, I have to take a whole year off.

I ask that you continue to pray that Grayson will be healthy when he decides to finally grace us with his presence. I also ask that you pray for God to help guide me in what I need to do with my chosen career path and family.